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Grinding gears. Data on German factory orders and French industrial production will shed some light on how the euro crisis is hampering exports from the continental powers.

Kerry meets Putin in Moscow. Syria and Iran will be on the agenda, though perhaps Kerry should begin by congratulating Putin on the first anniversary of his third term as president.

Will the Mouse roar? Entertainment giant Disney reports quarterly results after the close of US trading. Investors will be eager to see whether company cash cows such as ESPN will live up to the performance of the company’s shares, which have risen more than 50% over the past year.

The Nikkei hit 14,000 this morning. The last time that happened was in the halcyon days of June, 2008.

Australia’s trade balance swung back to surplus. The figures for March showed a healthy balance of A$307 million (US$314 million) in Australia’s favour, from a deficit of A$111 million in February.

Scrappy start-up Aereo sued CBS. Online television-streaming service Aereo asked a federal court to rule that it doesn’t violate copyright law, in order to prevent more CBS lawsuits in other US jurisdictions.

Bank of America sorted out a bit more of its subprime mess. The bank agreed to pay $1.6 billion to settle a dispute with bond insurer MBIA, which had insured some of BofA’s subprime mortgage deals. The settlement also warded off possible liquidation for MBIA.

Lily Kuo on the rise of China’s truly bizarre architectural aesthetic. ”China’s modern architectural sensibility, in some ways, is still in its infancy. The industry has only begun emerging over the past 30 years during the country’s economic reform and opening up, after decades of following Soviet-style city design. Today, there is about one architect for every 40,000 people in China. (In Italy, the proportion is more like 1:400). And the newness of it all, Wu Liangyong, a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Engineering said, means the People’s Republic is now seeing a surge of demand for the avant-garde and novel—no matter how tacky.” Read more here.